January 25, 2026

OT III [A] Is 8:23—9:3, 1 Cor 1:10-13, 17, Mt 4:12-23

Today’s readings show that the early Christians understood how Jesus had fulfilled the expectations of ancient Israel. Describing the humble beginning of the public ministry of Jesus, today’s Scripture readings teach us that Christ has brought us from the darkness of sin into the Light of God (Mt 4:16) by calling us to repentance (Mt 4:17) and complete acceptance of the Kingdom of God and God’s consequent rule over us.

St. John Henry Newman, (Cardinal Newman)’s prayer for light in the

darkness of life: Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home,– Lead thou me on! Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene,–one step enough for me We need to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom: When we receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, we are sent forth to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom and to defend the Catholic Faith. Each of us Christians has received a unique call to preach the Good News of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and salvation through our daily life. This call challenges us to rebuild our lives, homes, and communities in the justice and peace that Jesus proclaims.

As we continue with the celebration of the Holy Mass, let us ask the Lord Jesus to give us the strength and perseverance to answer his calling, so that we may faithfully serve the Lord, doing His Divine will as best as we can by cooperating with His grace. We need to become the light of the world as Jesus was the Light in darkness: The mission and role of Christians is to receive the light of Christ and radiate it to everyone as love, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, humble service, and respect for those with different ethnic backgrounds, different lifestyles, other Faiths, or no Faith at all. With a little bit of Christ’s Light, we become a veritable lighthouse, illuminating the way for many and removing the darkness caused by hatred, spite and jealousy.

January 18, 2026

OT II [A]: Is 49:3, 5-6; I Cor 1:1-3; Jn 1:29-34

The central theme of today’s readings is a challenge to live like the Lamb of God and to die like the Lamb of God and thus bear witness to Christ the “Lamb of God.” We have to choose to accept John’s testimony in today’s Gospel as God’s personal and corporate call to us to become witnesses to the Lamb of God. The Gospel passage presents three themes, namely, the witness John the Baptist bears to Jesus, the revelation (epiphany) and identification of Jesus as the “Lamb of God,” and the call to discipleship. 

THE LAMB WINS: When Communism fell in Czechoslovakia the churches opened and people were free to worship. One Church in Prague put a sign on a lawn of a Prague church. It read: THE LAMB WINS.  — This week, make the Carthusian monks’ motto your own: “To seek God assiduously, find God promptly, and possess God fully.”

We need to be witnesses to the Lamb of God by our exemplary lives.  Today’s Gospel reminds us that being a disciple of Jesus means that we need to grow in Faith so that we can become effective witnesses for him.  Bearing witness to Christ is an active, not passive, lifetime enterprise. One cannot be a disciple of Jesus at a distance, any more than one can be a distant lover.  We are invited to “Come and see.” The essence of our witnessing is to state what we have seen and believed and then to invite others to “come and see” Jesus for themselves and, so, become disciples with us. As with Andrew and John, our Faith begins with our responding to Jesus’ invitation

to “come and see.”  We tell others about good restaurants, barbers, etc.  Why isn’t there the same fervor over inviting and encouraging people to come and participate in our Church activities? If we are not willing to invite others into this experience, what does that say about our experiences with Christ and with our Church?

January 11, 2026

Baptism of the Lord [A] Is 42:1-4, 6-7; Acts 10:34-38; Mt 3:13-17

The Baptism of the Lord is the great event celebrated by the EasternChurches on the feast of Epiphany because it is the occasion of the first public revelation of all the Three Persons in the Holy Trinity, and the official revelation of Jesus as the Son of God to the world by God the Father. Hence, it is described by all four Gospels. It marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.

The 13th century king of France, St. Louis IX (1226-70), insisted that the grand celebration of his birthday should be held on the day of his Baptism, and not on his birthday proper. His argument was that Baptism was the beginning of a life that would continue for eternity in the everlasting glory of Heaven.

Identified with victims: When leprosy broke out among the people of the Hawaiian Islands in the middle of the 19 th century, the government authorities responded by establishing a leper colony on the remote island

of Molokai. The victims were snatched by force from their families and sent to this island to perish. However, moved by their terrible plight, a young Belgian priest, Damien De Veuster, asked permission from his superiors to minister to them. Straightaway he realized that there was only one effective way to do this, and that was to go and live among them. Having got permission, he went to Molokai. At first, he tried to minister to the lepers while maintaining a certain distance. But he soon realized that he had to live among them in order to gain their trust. As a result, he contracted leprosy himself. The reaction of the lepers was immediate and wholehearted. They embraced him and took him to their hearts. He was now one of them. There was no need, no point anymore, in keeping his distance. The lepers had someone who could talk with authority about leprosy, about brokenness, about rejection and public shame. Today’s

Gospel tells us how, by receiving the baptism of repentance, Jesus became identified with the sinners whom he had come to save.

 Baptism of a cat: Johnny’s Mother looked out the window and noticed him “playing church” with their cat. He had the cat sitting quietly and he was preaching to it. She smiled and went about her work. A while later she heard loud meowing and hissing and ran back to the open window to see Johnny baptizing the cat in a tub of water. She called out, “Johnny, stop that! The cat is afraid of water!” Johnny looked up at her and said, “He should have thought about that before he joined my church.”

Life messages: (1) The baptism of Jesus reminds us of our identity. It reminds us of who we are and Whose we are. By Baptism we become sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, members of his Church, heirs of heaven and temples of the Holy Spirit.

(2) Jesus’ baptism reminds us also of our mission:

(3) It is a day to thank God for the graces we have received in Baptism, to renew our Baptismal promises and to preach Christ’s ‘Good News’ by our transparent Christian lives of love, mercy, service and forgiveness.

January 4, 2026

EPIPHANY OF THE LORD: Is 60:1-6; Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6; Mt 2:1-12 

The Greek word Epiphany (επιφάνεια), means appearance or manifestation. Multiple revelations of Jesus as God are celebrated on this

Feast of the Epiphany. In the Western Church, the Feast of the Epiphany celebrates Jesus’ first appearance to the Gentiles, represented by the Magi Three Wise Women? While they were talking about the story of the three wise men, a woman asked her parish priest this question, “Do you know why God gave the star to the wise men?” When he professed his ignorance, she told him: “God knows men are too proud to ask directions. If there had been three wise women instead of three wise men, they would

have asked for directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and given some practical gifts!”

Like the Magi, let us offer to Jesus God’s Own gifts to us on this feast of Epiphany.

(a) The first gift might be friendship with God. After all, the whole point of Christmas is that God’s Son became one of us to redeem us and call us friends. God desires our friendship in the form of wholehearted love and devotion. 

(b) A second gift might be altruistic, genuine friendship with others. This kind of friendship can be costly, because the price it exacts is

vulnerability and openness to others.  The Good News, however, is that, in offering friendship to others, we will receive back many blessings.

(c) A third gift might be the gift of reconciliation. This gift repairs damaged relationships. It requires honesty, humility, recognition of

our own part in the damage done by our sins to those around, understanding of others, forgiveness, and patience. 

Artaban’s gift: There’s a story called “The Other Wise Man” by

Henry van Dyke. It’s about a fourth man who was supposed to

accompany the other three wise men on their journey to search

for the newborn King but missed the other three. The fourth wise

man is named Artaban. As Artaban prepared for the journey, he

took with him a bag of precious stones to give to the baby King.

On this way to join the other three wise men, Artaban stopped to

help a poor person. The delay was just enough to make him miss

his rendezvous with the others, and Artaban never did catch up

with them. He constantly ran into people who needed help, and

he always stopped helping them. Eventually, Artaban gave away

the last of the treasures he had brought for the Infant King.

 Artaban is now old, poor, and discouraged because he had never

been able to realize his dream of meeting the King of Kings,

staying in Jerusalem. Then, one day Artaban met the authorities

who were about to execute a criminal. When Artaban saw the

criminal, his heart skipped a beat. Something told him this was

the King of Kings for whom he had been searching all his life.

Heartbroken, because he saw that he could do nothing to help the

King. Artiban was shocked to hear a Voice, the King’s voice, say

to him: “Don’t be broken-hearted, Artaban. You’ve been saving

and supporting Me all your life. I was hidden in every single

person you helped with your courage, your presence and your

precious jewels. Now come, good and faithful servant, enter into

the Joy of your Reward.”